Chains and Cords
by Relala
Summary: "We are bound together in chains as well as the cords of everlasting love." /a collection of Light and L snippets. •DRABBLES•
1. Delta set 1

**~ Delta: 1 ~**

Light/L (Ryuzaki)** T.** 1,024

* * *

**#1 Beginning**

"The beginning is the end is the beginning," L says without preamble. He pushes away from the desk with his foot, spinning around in his chair to fix the boy with a look, searching his face for a sign that he understands.

Light nods. The moment they met was the end of life as they previously knew it, and now they have embarked on this journey together. _We are bound, _he thinks, _tied together by both physical and metaphysical means._

The chain linking them together jiggles with false cheer as L spins back around and resumes typing without another word.

* * *

**#2 Coffee**

"Would you like some coffee with your sugar, Ryuzaki?" Light asks sarcastically, watching as L upends six sugar packets into his mug.

"You should try it sometime," L advises, eyes trained on his computer screen. "It will keep you awake through the long, tedious hours of research." He takes a sip, and his mouth comes away stained with powdered crystals.

It is an effort not to lean forward and lick those shimmering lips, an effort not to whisper in his ear a suggestion about other things that could keep them up all night, things which wouldn't be tedious at all.

* * *

**#3 War**

Whether it be as L and Kira or Ryuzaki and Light there is no peace between them, only the false sense of security that they try to lure each other into, the hush that predicts the storm.

Light cannot stay silent for too long. He always has to pick Ryuzaki's ideas apart, and Ryuzaki's scathing comments never fail to peel the skin of their friendship back, revealing the rivalry underneath.

Neither one of them is the type to surrender. This, more than anything, is the reason they won't just admit their feelings to each other and stop with the games.

* * *

**#4 Hope**

Walter Benjamin once said: "The only way of knowing a person is to love without hope."

As L watches Light's throat strain and relax as he emphasises some point to Matsuda, however, the detective decides that this is a foolish way of finding out if Light is Kira. Falling in love with him will only jeopardise the investigation and leave one of them heartbroken in the end.

Light looks up and catches his stare with a slight smile and, without hesitation, L gives a tiny wave in return.

Why won't his heart listen to reason where this boy is concerned?

* * *

**#5 Bugs**

Every room in bugged in this place, and even after Light is freed from the suspicion that he is Kira L cannot bring himself to stop watching the boy. He isn't sure anymore if he's doing this out of obsessiveness or out of love—maybe it's both. All he knows is that watching Light fall asleep on the couch with a book lying sloppily on his chest is the most fascinating thing in the world, and suddenly his wrist feels wrong, weightless with the absence of the handcuff and the boy who is supposed to be at the other end.

* * *

**#6 Dark**

_There's darkness inside of you, _Light thinks, listening to Ryuzaki explain that someone must use the notebook to prove that it works. He looks bored, dropping sugar cubes into his cup with a blank expression.

"We can't just watch!" Light argues, sounding every bit the enraged goody-two-shoes. "They're going to kill innocent people!"

"These people are not as 'innocent' as you would like to believe." Ryuzaki fixes him with a large, eerie stare. "No one is blameless."

The realization dawns that L understands him because of how alike they are. _If given the Note, would you have been tempted, L?_

* * *

**#7 Poison**

He hates the way Ryuzaki gets under his skin, slipping through his veins like a poison, corrupting his mind and corroding his previous accomplishments. While watching his mouth work on a slice of soft cake or when noticing how the overhead lights tint his hair blue, it is all too easy for Light to wish that he isn't Kira. He closes his eyes and listens to Ryuzaki ramble about the FBI agents, noting the timber of his voice and emphasis he puts on certain words. _I would erase this for you, _Light thinks, faltering in his convictions._Only for you._

* * *

**#8 Doors**

The tapping on the other end of the door increases as the minutes tick by and Light squeezes his eyes closed. He just wants some peace and quiet for once, a little time to think without the constant press off people and their talk. Is that so very much to ask for?

"Light-kun?" _Tap, tap tap._ "Are you all right?" _Tap, tap, tap_. "I think you should come out of there now." _Tap, tap, tap._

He smacks his head against the back of the door. "Dear god, would you just leave me alone?"

Ryuzaki sympathizes. "Is she _always_ this annoying?"

* * *

**#9 Solid**

Ryuzaki's belief that he is Kira is a solid, unwavering thing despite mounting evidence that it _isn't _him, and Light slumps into the sofa cushions, feeling a tad defeated as the famous detective tells his father just why the chance of him being Kira has yet again increased.

Light no longer objects to these little speeches. Once, he might have, but reason just doesn't seem to matter when Ryuzaki has something in his head. _I'd rather have you figure it out yourself than try to convince you anyway, _Light thinks. _There's no point in talking if you never hear me._

* * *

**#10 Spring**

Freedom tastes like fresh rain. Light throws his arms open wide as he stands on the rooftop of the headquarters with his eyes closed, glorying in the springtime air that caresses his skin and ruffles his hair ever so slightly.

An image of Ryuzaki, lying in bed with the other half of the handcuff undone (picked with one of Misa's hairpins) flashes through his mind. He'll be angry when he pulls up the surveillance cameras later and finds out about this.

_I'm going to get my head chopped off for this. _Somehow, that thought doesn't make him go back inside.

* * *

**Revisions:** _10-23-12_


	2. Delta set 2

**~ Delta: 2 ~**

Light/L (Ryuzaki)** T.** 1,019

* * *

**#11 Foot**

He has always thought of L as a delectate thing. Some sort of flighty creature, like an exotic bird. An easy prey which knew its place, taking the necessary precautions, always remaining out of reach. The feather soft black hair and the slender wrists do nothing but reinforce the perception, and the way he perches on the furniture instead of sitting on it all but confirms it.

It's the foot in the gullet that sets Light straight. If L had been wearing shoes at the time, Matsuda would have been escorting him to the hospital, and Light revaluates his prey.

* * *

**#12 Fall**

There isn't anything wrong with Misa. She's cute, kind, and although a little slow on the uptake sometimes she's smart enough to get by. Her real talent lies in knowing when to be serious or lighthearted; she reads people well without her Shinigami eyes, a gift Light finds most useful.

It's because of these things, however, that avoids her as best he can. He mustn't let this girl worm her way into his heart. Love is the downfall of every man. So he avoids Misa's declarations of undying love…and accidentally falls for L in her stead.

Love spares no one.

* * *

**#13 Apples**

"I love apples." Light sinks his teeth into the shiny red skin and chews, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Don't you like apples, Ryuzaki?"

He is deliberately baiting the other man, and the storm clouds that gather in L's eyes make his stomach with lightheaded glee.

"No," L spits, "I can't say I care for them."

Ryuzaki is gorgeous like this—all riled up, cheeks flushed and eyes flashing with understanding as Light taunts him. All the answers are there, dangling right in front of him, but held so far away.

Light smiles triumphantly around another bite of apple.

* * *

**#14 Drink**

"Just take a sip." L urges, pushing the can towards his friend, and Light's nose scrunches up in distaste.

"No, thank you. I can already feel the sugar corroding my teeth from this distance."

L summons up his most petulant, exaggerated pout, jutting out his lower lip and rolling his eyes up at Light. He blinks to add extra persuasion, and Light can't help but give a sliver of a smile, half amused and half annoyed.

"You've been spending too much time with Misa," Light grumbles. He snatches the soda and takes a swig. "We need to get out more."

* * *

**#15 Light**

The first time he hears it he doesn't pay attention. It's background noise, something Misa's little radio has decided to play while she dances around her bedroom, reading herself for another shoot.

But, due to the fact that popular stations tend to play the same song repeatedly, he soon catches himself nodding his head along to the tune, tapping his fingers to the beat.

**"**Death defying, this mess I'm buying. It's raining down with love and hate, and I find it hard to motivate." He mouths the lyrics, scrolling through a list of Kira's recent victims, and thinks of Light.

* * *

**#16 Duty**

"You say nine percent, but tell me the _truth_." Yagami is turned away from him to conceal his emotions, but L notes the way Yagami's jacket strains in the shoulders. "Is my son Kira?"

He cannot be honest .There is no way to predict what Yagami's reaction will be. Suppose he sides with Kira because it's his son, and hides Light away? It is a tough decision to make—one's family or one's duty—which makes Yagami a wildcard which might jeopardise the investigation."I believe we're getting closer to catching Kira every day." _There, that's neither lie nor truth._

* * *

**#17 Rain**

It's raining, a steady downpour that smacks into the window and shakes the glass before sliding down it in the shape of rolling, half flat bubbles that L tries to catch with his finger.

"I can't help but think that finding him is proving to be too difficult," he says, following the path of one particular bubble with a fingertip. "It's like trying to catch one particular raindrop in a storm."

Light lays his hands over his, squeezing gently in assurance. "He's out there, somewhere. You'll find him."

_No,_ thinks L, placing Light's hand over his heart, _he's in here._

* * *

**#18 Flexible**

"You know what your problem is, Ryuzaki?" His lips are only fraction of an inch away from his ear and L shivers—half in reaction to the hot breath swirling in his ear and half from the malice in Light's voice. "You're _weak_, and flexible." He points at the TV screen without looking as some newsman tells the tale of rapist who has been acquitted of charges. "You'll believe anything they tell you to. This one is guilty, this one is not. You don't have a mind of your own. We all know he did it, and _he deserves judgement."_

* * *

**#19 Fire**

"Some say the world will end in fire," Ryuzaki quotes as he makes his way down the other boy's neck with nibbles and kisses. His voice is muffled by skin and lust, and Light barely hears him, too lightheaded to pay any attention. He rocks his hips against Ryuzaki's encouragingly, but the hand fixed tightly in his hair allows him little movement, and Ryuzaki is much stronger than he looks. "Some say ice. From what I've tasted of desire," L sucks a piece of his flesh into his mouth, and Light moans happily, "I hold with those who favour fire."

* * *

**#20 Regret**

L's chair tips over and he crashes to the floor. Light smiles down at him as he watches the realization flash through those shadowy eyes. Deep inside he is crowing with triumph, and he curses every person in this room for their presence because he has to give voice to this feeling, this feeling…

The understanding disappears from L's face. His smile falters, slipping away from his lips like warmth from a winter sky. Deep inside, something hurts.

_This is how it needs to be. He _had _to die._

The searing pain in his chest doesn't care for his reasoning.

* * *

**Revisions:** _10-23-12_


End file.
